Like any other big name automaker, Audi is working on a new synthetic fuel to make driving more economical. But there’s one thing that Audi engineers are using that no one else is – glass. No, not in the fuel, but in the actual testing process.
Usually hidden behind a metal cylinder, the process of combustion is a crucial part in understanding how fuels interact inside the engine. Using quartz glass, Audi engineers have created a way to see this process firsthand and give them a better idea of how their fuels are reacting. We’ll let Audi explain exactly it works:
“During each of up to 3,000 revolutions per minute in the research engine, a minute amount of fuel shoots into the glass cylinder, is compressed and ignited, and the exhaust gas then expelled.”
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Sounds simple enough.
But what does this tell Audi engineers? It shows that Audi’s synthetic e-fuels are absolutely pure, more so than the standard fossil fuels. This leads to fewer emissions and longer sustainability.
Plain and simple — glass combustion chambers are giving Audi engineers a whole new perspective on how internal combustion works.
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